NEW YORK -- Police were called to search for a missing man in the waters off of Rockaway, 1010 WINS has learned.

At approximately 1:43 p.m. Friday, police responded to the 911 call after three men went windsurfing off the Breezy Point jetty and only two returned.

After a search by the NYPD Aviation and Scuba units, rescuers spotted the male in distress drifting in the water approximately four miles off shore. Divers were deployed and rescued the man, who was airlifted to Floyd Bennett Field and taken to a nearby hospital to be checked out, police said.

Sgt. Victor Mevo said the surfer had a wet/dry suit and appeared to be in relatively good shape. Yes he will recover. He was well-repared for the elements. The water was quite cold, and he was dressed for the conditions he was actually very lucky.

Mevo said a rip tide was going southbound out to the Atlantic, and had drawn the surfer with it.

We conducted a pretty good grid search, and it took a good hour and five minutes, hour and ten minutes just to locate him, he said describing the search. We had 2 aircrafts doing the searching, the patrol ship located him. Divers grabbed him, put him in a basket, and they hoisted him up to the helicopter.

I believe in this case, the officer reported a rip tide when it was actually an outgoing tide. I agree that rip tides are usually associated with very localized near shore events. The tides around NYC can really rip at certain times. Outgoing tides there are generally southerly in direction.
Best bet is to know your site. Check the tides.

know your local conditions!!..i was the one.
the wind was out of the north, the tide was going out and we sailed right near the inlet - the tide approached rush outgoing,topspeed and there was a windshadow near shore where the wind rises to cross the penisula. i dropped right into the middle of the channel and could not waterstart due to wind cancelled out by fast moving current. straight out to sea but for the graces of my sailing buddies and the NYPD helos....

trust those little feeling you hv cause i didnt like the way things were setting up as i got onto the water...
AND BUY an AERIAL FLARE, strobe light, SOLAS reflective tape on your helmet and maybe a VHF radio or some signaling device. it all seems a little too expensive and bulky to carry until you are floating out there watching the helos search for you 2 miles away!
the helo pilots said they had no way to see me in 6 foot swells until they were right above me.

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